U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar said Thursday that he is concerned about reports that U.S. District Chief Judge Edward Nottingham Jr. engaged in immoral conduct and wants to investigate further to determine whether sanctions are necessary.

“I am very troubled by recent allegations made against Chief Judge Edward Nottingham,” Salazar said. “I believe that a United States district court judge should serve in an exemplary manner, both on and off the court. I will examine the evidence concerning the allegations and then decide what future action might be appropriate.”

Salazar’s statement came in response to questions from The Post after a source told the paper that the senator was considering pursuing impeachment proceedings against the judge.

Impeachment of a federal judge begins with the House Judiciary Committee, and, ultimately, articles of impeachment must be voted on by the full U.S. House of Representatives.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals began investigating Nottingham after a citizen complained in January about Nottingham’s admission during the judge’s divorce proceedings that he spent $3,000 one night at a strip club and was too drunk to remember how he spent the money. His former wife also accused him of looking at an adult website in his chambers.

Additional allegations

The Circuit Court also is looking at allegations that the judge got into a spat with a woman in a wheelchair after he parked illegally in a handicapped spot outside a Denver drugstore.

9News has since reported that Nottingham patronized an escort service.

Nottingham has not returned calls for comment about the allegations.

Salazar has known Nottingham for many years.

The two worked on cases together at the Denver law firm of Sherman & Howard, when Nottingham was a partner and Salazar was an associate.

Nominated by elder Bush

In January, the judge urged Salazar and U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard to move forward on nominating candidates for three vacancies on the federal bench in Denver.

Nottingham was nominated to the U.S. District Court by President George H.W. Bush and confirmed in 1989. He became chief judge last year.

He most recently was in the news this month when the 10th Circuit overturned former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio’s illegal insider-trading conviction because the court said Nottingham erred in limiting testimony of one of Nacchio’s defense witnesses during the trial.

The 10th-Circuit opinion said Nottingham would not be allowed to preside over Nacchio’s retrial.

“After reading the trial transcript, we have concluded that it would be unreasonably difficult to expect this judge to retry the case with a fresh mind,” the judges wrote.